Summary: When Hermione realizes that her relationship is going nowhere, she chooses to drown her irritation in coffee and a book. She ends up running into the one person who has no compunction about making his opinions known—and for once, doesn't mind listening to her own. But why is he paying her any attention at all?

Summary: With Severus waylaid by a painful potions mishap, his wife Hermione is forced into beleaguered service in his lab. Faced with a perpetually cranky and unappreciative Snape, Hermione determines that the best solution is to help him equate pleasure with pain.